


Eyes Inside the Trees

by Fukuro_City_Writes



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Cloning Copy Machine (Gravity Falls), Codes & Ciphers, Demons, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Dipper Pines, Gravity Falls Oregon, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Mystery, Mystery Twins, Nightmares, Older Dipper Pines, Older Mabel Pines, Returning to Gravity Falls, Science, Summer, The Journals (Gravity Falls), Trust, Trust Issues, Younger Pines Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21727747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fukuro_City_Writes/pseuds/Fukuro_City_Writes
Summary: Summertime again and the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon gains back a pair of beloved twins. Dipper and Mabel Pines had visited Gravity Falls every summer since they were twelve. Their love for the town as strong as water flow. The twins are now 18, Fresh out of their Junior Year of High School, the twins look forward to the last summer they know they will both have together before college after their Senior year. The forests awaited for their grown-over paths to be trodden down yet again by the Mystery Twins. Dipper enjoyed the new oddities and anomalies that had popped up in the town after the dimensions had been split and morphed together in the conjunction of chaos that still hung heavy on Dipper’s mind and memories. Both teens expected to have another calm summer, or, as calm as summer in Gravity Falls could be. That is until deceitful forms take shape within the vulnerably open minds, leaving Dipper’s everlasting fear of an old resented enemy’s return to be completely feasible. But, can’t hearts change? What if you don’t have one?
Relationships: Bill Cipher & Dipper Pines, Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Black and white: Could be a dog.

**Author's Note:**

> (Will try best to update every Wednesday, have fun trying to decode the codes during the fanfiction! Most codes' answers will be given eventually)

The sun rose steadily above the treetops, a great morning fog hung around the forests and seeped into the grass, leaving it slick with dew. And the crunch of gravel broke the calm silence, the loud, shrill squeak of a large vehicle being set to a stop disrupted the bird’s song and the melody of the wind. A pair of Combat boots and a set of twinkle toes mounted the dusty roadside bus stop, suitcase and duffel bag in tow as Dipper and Mabel Pines re-entered the atmosphere that would forever be ingrained as the happiest part of their childhood. Both twins took a deep breath, identifying the sweet smell of mountain country air over the bus’s exhaust. The twins were significantly older in contrast to the first time they had hesitantly dismounted the bus for the first-best-summer of their lives, and their appearances had been altered according to maturity.  
Dipper had grown significantly taller, claiming the title as ‘alpha twin’ by merely a few inches, he had grown out of his shorts and vest and had comfortably settled into a style that usually consisted of a pair of naturally-ripped blue jeans, a red and black flannel, and an old NASA shirt that he had been given as a birthday present by his great-uncle Ford for his 16th birthday. His Pinetree hat still sat atop his head of curly brown hair, ragged and dirty, the blue bill was frayed just slightly at the edges, but it suited his character.  
Mabel had also grown, the years having dampened her child-like and boy-crazy naivety, slightly. She still wore her beloved sweaters, she had made major bank during her years in high school by starting a small online store and selling her hand-made clothes. She wore her brown hair in a braid down her shoulder, she wore a headband that corresponded with her knee-high purple kitten socks. She wore a sweater that was designed to hang off of one shoulder and she had printed on her signature shooting star to the chest. Her braces were off and she had fully committed to not wearing her retainers while eating candy and had broken them, unfortunately, their insurance would not pay for replacements and Mabel was stuck with a slightly crooked smile; one to which everyone thought suited her.  
Her sweater hung off her shoulder just enough to show off the top half of her shoulder tattoo, the one that corresponded with Dipper’s in a way only people from their first summer understood. As Mabel had a shooting star on her shoulder in a thick black outline and pastel watercolour ink finish, a condition which she had added to both of their tattoos, as Dipper’s was a Pinetree, also outlines with thick black and filled with water coloured ink that was designed to flow outside the lining of the tattoo just slightly. Some people might wonder why they wore their zodiac wheel symbol so proudly, its because that was it. They were just proud, proud to have survived and to have been apart of one of the biggest chaotic and dangerous moments in their planet’s history, even though almost no one knew about the event.  
As the two soaked up the fresh, clean and bus exhaust-free air, a car honked off to the left of them, both heads whipped around to spot the old red car whose driver motioned them over. Both twins gave each other a look from the corner of their eyes, and both of their faces broke out in huge smiles before they energetically raced their way to the vehicle. Throwing their bags in the trunk, Dipper smirked as he closed the trunk and turned to Mabel.  
“Shotgun-” his words trailed off upon realizing that his devious twin sister had already snatched up the passenger seat of the car. He grumbled and pulled himself into the backseat.  
“Hey, what’s up dudes?” Soos asked from the driver’s seat, starting the engine and pulling out of the bus stop.  
“Glad to see you, man.” Dinner grinned stupidly as he leaned up to hang over the middle-front seat.  
“Heck yeah! How have you been?” Mabel slapped at Soos’s arm from the passenger’s seat. “How are you a Melony doing?” She asked excitedly, biting her lip to contain what Dipper could only think to be a squeal of delight.  
“Oh, you know, heheh, waiting on that new baby to show up.” Soos smiled contentedly, obviously excited, Melony was due in the next few weeks, the two had gotten married during the twin’s third summer and Dipper swore he had never met a couple more compatible, both of them hated arguing and knew just what to do in a bad situation. And both had a strong belief in the theory that everything would work out no matter how bad it got.  
“Oh my gosh! I can’t wait! The baby is gonna be beautiful Soos! And you will make the BEST dad!” Mabel finally let out her squeal, her excitement only contained for the shortest amount of time. She was excited about the thought of being the child’s honorary aunt, as Soos and Melony had decided and announced during their baby shower.  
“Thanks girl dude.” Soos gave a smile and fixed his hat, pulling into the parking spot behind the not-so-famous-yet Mystery Shack.  
Dipper felt a calm, warm emotion filled his insides, he finally felt at home.  
When they got inside, the familiar smells, lighting, and sound hit them all at once and their hearts raced in excitement. They walked into the living room and from the kitchen, they heard shuffling, their great-uncle Stan walked out, dressed in his usual work attire, a suit with his fez and useless eyepatch. Mabel smiled and practically leapt at the older man, hugging him around the shoulders, if he stood tall, Mabel would hardly touch the floor, but Mabel made sure not to put too much strain on him. He wrapped his arms around her for a short moment before pulling away and patting her shoulder affectionately, he faced towards Dipper and his face hardened in a mask of exasperation.  
“‘Bout time you guys got here, I had to delay a scheduled tour to make sure I got to say hi to you.” Stan crossed his arms and set them with a look they had both gotten used to. After all, the twins knew that he had taken the rest of the day off like he always does on their first day back.  
“Oh shut up and hug me, old man.” The younger replied before pulling his great-uncle into a hug as well, still a couple of inches short of Stan’s height, he raised himself on his toes discretely, being sure not to strain the man too much, just as his sister had cautiously done. Stan patted Dipper's back and pulled away, roughly ruffling his hair and causing his hat to sit lop-sided.  
“Good to see you kids.” Stan smiled at them both. Soos had gone back to the gift shop, having taken up his duties as co-manager of the Mystery Shack quite seriously.  
The three moved to the kitchen and made small talk, the twins talked about the ride there and how it felt to be back again. Dipper felt a sort of nervous excitement during the conversation, his eyes glanced around the kitchen and occasionally he got sidetracked by his thoughts and had to be re-brought back to the conversation. Dipper opened his mouth to add to their conversation when he was cut off by a couple of thumps coming from the new staircase that Ford had hidden behind the fridge, Dipper thinks he just had something about if he had to come up from his lab for food he wouldn’t have to go that far.  
Before he knew it, standing in front of him was his other great-uncle, Ford. A man Dipper had always looked up to and aspired to be like. Dipper’s face broke out in a large grin as he stood from his seat at the table to reach his uncle, who smiled and gave his nephew a short, tight hug. When Dipper pulled away, he felt a warm sensation on his arm and looked down to see that his shirt sleeve had ignited in a small flame, he hurriedly wiped at it to quench the flame before rounding behind Ford to put out the spreading fire that harmlessly flickered along Ford’s fire-proof lab coat; which was a blessing and a curse, as it kept Ford from being hurt and losing his lap coats while not alerting him when he had been set on fire.  
“Ah, thanks Dipper.” His uncle smiled and soon was being engulfed in one of Mabel’s famous hugs, despite Mabel being rather skinny, she had the strength to dislocate a few ribs, so obviously, her famous hug had been toned down for her great-uncle’s sake.  
“Hi, Grunkle Ford!” Mabel grinned and bounced off her uncle to sit back beside her other uncle.  
“So, what are you working on down there?” Dipper asked as he sat back at the table, Ford gave a fond and proud smirk while grabbing himself a Pitt-Cola and sitting in the last seat at the table. He tried his best to casually shrug and hide his smug grin but failed miserably.  
“Oh, you know, just the usual, borrowing energy from advanced species to create more efficient sources of power, the usual.” Dipper gaped and lifted an eyebrow.  
“Energy from advanced species? But, the only species we know of that gives off enough energy to briefly light a lightbulb is practically extinct. Did you find one here?”  
“Yes, and then I went through the process of rapid domestic breeding, and unfortunately the species wasn’t exactly the same after that, however, the results of the captivity-bred species amounted to higher energy levels due to the radiation from the rapid breeding process.” Dipper’s mouth hung open as he stared at his uncle.  
“Great uncle Ford that’s amazing!” Dipper grinned and gave his great-uncle a high-five/six.  
“Guysssssss,” Mabel groaned, “Stop being nerds and talk about something everyone at this table understands!” She huffed and leaned back in her chair, Stan crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Both Ford and Dipper grinned sheepishly.  
“Sorry guys, what were we talking about?” 

The family talked late into the night, their conversations fading out in deep yawns from all four, two on account of the elderly, two on account of jet-leg. Both the twins said goodnight before traipsing their way back upstairs, Dipper had wished he brought his duffel bag up beforehand, he felt too tired to carry it now, but he managed just fine. The twins said goodnight to one another, having decided to have separate rooms upon reaching their teen years, Dipper took the attic, happy with space being his, although sad that his twin was never around like when they were kids. But that was a bridge that had to be crossed as they grew older, and both grew to accept it best they could.  
When Dipper entered his bedroom, he dropped his duffel bag near the foot of his bed and lazily untied his boots, exhaustion taking over his movements, as he refused to change and simply slipped under the covers in just his shirt and boxers. He let his head hit the pillow and the previous adrenaline of being at his favorite place subsided, and he closed his eyes to allow sleep to come. Dipper began to slip into a dream filled with his favorite creatures and places that he liked to go, he felt safe, content to sleep and take in the silence that wasn’t city white noise.  
Dreams were safe, a place where you could swim the deepest seas and travel the biggest most mystical forests. Dipper had always felt safe in his dreams after that day all those years ago. And he was thankful for that, as he didn’t often get sleep anyway, with the classes he took during the school year, he had no time to balance his schedule and still have time to sleep.  
“Hdvvg wivznh, prw…”  
And as he drifted off, Dipper hardly caught the voice that softly rang in his ears before he was out cold.  
For now, dreams were safe, for now they could dance without getting tired, eat without getting full, and drink without drowning. That was the true natural powers of dreams, sometimes, you were invincible, and you couldn’t ever get hurt.  
Sometimes.


	2. Cryptic voices: Could be insanity.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper hangs out with Ford, and realizes he can hear voices? Ending in cryptic ways.

The next morning, Dipper woke early, now this wasn’t uncommon, however, it was uncommon when he woke at 4:00 am that morning. He sat up, completely alert and fully conscious, had he been dreaming? Was someone talking to him? Dipper couldn’t remember. He stood up from his bed, giving a large yawn as he stretched his arms above his head, feeling like a cliche movie actor he threw his arms down to swing at his sides. He had tried going back to bed, but it had been no use and finally, he decided to go get a snack and leave for a short walk.  
Dipper slipped on a pair of sweatpants and grabbed his essentials, meaning his hat and backpack, which included his pens, maps, a knife, some string, some first aid supplies, and finally, Dipper grabbed his journal from his duffel bag and crammed it into his backpack. Dipper had learned from experience that in Gravity Falls, you can never be too safe when it came to the possibility of documenting new phenomena. After tying his shoes, Dipper deemed himself good-to-go and he quietly journeyed downstairs to the kitchen.  
Dipper grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar, slowly and quietly he left the shack and closed the door behind him. Once outside, Dipper took a deep breath and exhaled the fresh air from his lungs. He gave a soft smile to nothing in particular and he stepped off the porch.  
The moon was bright and beautiful, casting light overtop of Gravity Falls and rendering the need for a flashlight useless. Dipper preferred it that way, the least human contamination in the woods, the better. He quietly traipsed his way through the undergrowth along a familiar trail.  
“I really missed this.” He let his words come out soft and quiet, trailing out to be captured in the light breeze. In the air hung small bodies of light, nothing paranormal or weird, just lightening bugs communicating through their intricate code. Dipper walked softly towards his destination, being mindful of the deer family that resided close to the trails during this time of year. It was always a mother and twin fauns, bedded down among the bushes, the mother always came back year after year with her new set of twins. Perhaps it was the safe water source that flourished at the end of the trail, a small lake in a meadow, a quiet waterfall rushing off the cliff face that towered the meadow.  
This happened to be one of DIpper’s favorite places to clear his head, especially late at night, as far as he could tell, the animals inhabiting the immediate forest treated this as neutral territory. Dipper felt safe here from the predators and civilization. When DIpper finished his granola bar, he sat and took the backpack off of his shoulder, stuffing every piece of his wrapper into one of his pockets, he fished out his journal and set his backpack aside. Dipper leaned against the tree and opened his journal, checking his last entry. He was close to finishing off the pages in his first journal, excited to start a collection much like his great-uncle.  
Dipper had started his journals at the end of his first summer, taking it back to his California home, as the incident from that summer had scattered small bits of anomalies across the surrounding areas of Oregon, so Dipper had some things to document when arriving home. But, as all weird things do, they shifted their horizons towards Gravity Falls, but Dipper couldn’t blame them one bit. Dipper leaned his head back and he shut his eyes, letting the moonlight seeping into his skin, listening to the soft sound of frogs from the water’s edge, he heard owls in the distance and shifting leaves in the cool night’s breeze. Dipper felt completely relaxed and at ease.  
It was sudden, Dipper felt his ears pop and suddenly the frogs stopped croaking, the atmosphere was completely and totally still. Dipper popped his eyes open, and the already dark surrounding area was stripped of any colour. Dipper’s entire body bristled, his shoulders tensed and he sat forward. His eyes narrowed and he reached for his backpack, which was ripped far out of his grasp and skidded across the meadow.  
“Ah, Ah, Ah, not so fast there, don’t be too hasty now!” Spoke a voice that ripped through Dipper’s entire being, if he hadn’t been on edge before, Dipper was sure that his demeanor could cut through glass.  
“Show yourself now!” Dipper snapped out, quickly scrambling to his feet and trying his best to keep his heart rate down, an anxious deer was a dead deer.  
“Why should I do that? You were just planning to impale me with that object in your backpack?” The voice scoffed playfully, a hint of false hurt panged his voice and Dipper seethed.  
“I’m not playing these games with you, Cipher.” He growled out into the open, standing as straight as he could, trying not to let off any nervous energy.  
Dipper’s skin prickled with goose-bumps when every ‘eye’ on the surrounding birch trees glowed with the only colour visible, yellow, their slitted black pupils rolled to point right in front of Dipper, a ball of light formed and Dipper covered his eyes as his ears popped once more, when he was sure the light had faded he lowered his arm and blinked spots out of his vision.  
"Well, did you miss me?" Smirked a darker-skinned man who stood in front of Dipper, dressed in tight fitted black slacks, a yellow button-up, and black vest. And of course he had his signature bowtie, his left eye was covered in a black eye patch and atop his head sat a puff of blonde hair.  
Dipper was taken aback by the look of this stranger, his heart pounded in his chest and Dipper cursed himself for finding the man attractive.  
"What's wrong? Do I have a second head?" Bill's voice echoed from the stranger and Dipper's heart snapped, his dazed state gave way to his original stiff closed up demeanor.  
"Bill?" Dipper asked skeptically, just to be sure, he hoped it wasn't true.  
"The one and only, Pinetree." Said the stranger- Bill. Dipper's defense hardened and he glared the man straight in the eye.  
"What are you doing here? We defeated you!" Dipper's voice grew enraged, he and his family fought tooth and nail to get rid of the demonic overlord.  
"Kid, you keep forgetting. I'm a being of pure energy. By pulling that little stunt, I was only banished back here, to the mindscape. To regenerate whatever energy you guys had ripped away from me." At the end of his words, his voice grew salty and dangerous. Before his face broke out into a mischievous grin.  
“Sorry I couldn’t say hello sooner, took me a very long time to build up enough energy to even manifest, and even now I’m reduced to filling this use-less flesh bag form. I was just lucky you decided to take a nap in the moonlight, cleansed your brain right up and it gives me energy by just being here! Means I get to visit you more often!” Dipper’s eyes grew wide when BIll motioned towards his body, which lay motionless against the tree, his head craned in an uncomfortable position and Dipper scolded himself for falling asleep like that.  
“Don’t beat around the bush Bill, I know you want something from me, and whatever it is I’m not giving it to you, so quit while you’re ahead and save yourself the trouble, go find someone else to bug.” Dipper replied coldly, his fists clenched at his sides, he knew he was letting his anger control his words, but he wanted it that way, he didn’t want to let down a single barrier in front of BIll. Not again.  
“Yeesh, Pinetree, relax, I’m not trying to get anything from you. Ya know, being stuck here for the last 6 years really did a number on my conscience.” Bill leaned down and picked up a frog, walking over to the lake a couple of feet away and sitting it at the edge of the water. Dipper’s eyebrow raised in question and suspicion. Bill walked back over and wiped any dirt off his black gloves.  
“Why, why did you do that?” Dipper questioned and Bill pointed up, in the sky, frozen among black and white clouds flew an own, whose body was poised to dive, pointed in the same spot where the frog had previously been. Dipper’s eyes widened and he looked back at Bill, he had to admit, he was surprised by this action of selflessness, but soon Dipper came to the conclusion that Bill had just been trying to get inside his good graces.  
“Cut it out and stop playing games with me, Bill.” He demanded through gritted teeth.  
“As much as I love games, this isn’t one of them, and I can’t expect you to ever believe me, and you’re right, to an extent, I do want something.” Bill paused, his signature smirk shrunk down to a mere smile, Dipper crossed his arms, waiting for Bill to continue. When it was clear that Bill was not going to elaborate, Dipper let out a frustrated sound.  
“Stop wasting both of our time, get out of here so I can wake up and go home.” He demanded fiercely, glancing back at his sleeping body.  
“Alright, alright, I’ll leave, for tonight. But Pinetree.” Bill stepped toward Dipper quickly, this caught the young man off guard and he stumbled back, hardly holding himself up against the tree, being mindful of his body on the ground. Bill grinned again and flicked Dipper’s hat bill up and setting his hat sideways atop his head.  
“You’ll see me again.” Dipper’s heart raced with fear-induced adrenaline, Bill put his hands on Dipper’s shoulders and forced him down. 

Dipper gasped and sat forward, blinking the sight of BIll’s sharp smirk out of his memory. He took in his surroundings, the sun was barely rising above the horizon, and upon his movement, he realized he had frightened a couple of deer who had been grazing at his side. They took off for the cover of trees. Dipper glanced down and realized his journal had been put neatly back in his bag, destroying his hopes that the dream actually had been just a dream and not a visit from his childhood enemy. He took a few deep breaths and ran his hand through his hair, lifting his hat above his head before securing it back. Dipper checked his watch and realized it was now 7:00 am, he scrambled to his feet, his calm demeanor gone as he still felt nervous energy fill his being, he scrounged up his backpack and began to journey back home.  
When reaching the shack, Dipper realized he had been walking faster than needed, sweat hung on his brow and the whole way back he couldn’t get rid of the feeling of being watched. Dipper opened the door and was greeted by his family, who sat in the kitchen eating a Mabel-made breakfast. Dipper softly smiled at his sister and great-uncles before sitting in the empty seat, where a pre-made plate had been sat for him.  
“Couldn’t sleep?” Ford asked curiously, concern filtering into his question as he observed Dipper’s person.  
“No, not really.” Dipper shook his head and set to eat, slowly picking at his meal as his stomach tried to settle itself from the anxious feeling that his dream had given him. Ford looked concerned and skeptical, opening his mouth to speak before closing it again and continuing his meal. They ate in silence as Mabel set to work cranking out her pancakes, having made too much batter and not wanting to put it to waste.  
“Here dip, have another-” Mabel slipped on her way over to Dipper, who reacted with his developing reflexes and tried to catch his sister, with no avail he slipped with her, Mabel’s arms flew out and caught the edge of the bag of flour, toppling it onto the two of them. The kitchen was silent before all four Pines broke out in laughter, Dipper coughed between laughs as he shoved his sister over, in return, she shoved him back. Dipper’s heart lifted and he smiled at the laughing faces of his family.  
It was going to be alright.


	3. No More Powerful Than How it is Wielded.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper hears voices, and asks his great-uncle some questions, before being sucked into a starry night with an unikely participant.

A couple of days later, Dipper had no further encounter with Bill Cipher, he did, however, feel as if something was watching him, this was a feeling the young man was accustomed to. Ever since his first encounter with the triangle man all those years ago, Dipper had been nothing but paranoid, sometimes when he would glance down to his arms, he saw tiny pinpricked scars in straight rows going lengthwise. He remembered all of the sensations that Bill had put his body through all those years ago, and it always made his skin crawl, to think about the burning of soda in his nose, and how badly his wrist had been sprained, all the bruises that lasted for what felt like forever, he remembered the pain of each ordeal.

As of current, Dipper was downstairs with his great-uncle, participating in a viewing of his new machine. He and Dipper had talked about it briefly on the twin’s first day back, and since Dipper had no time in his schedule before today that allowed him to participate in the demonstration. So he had been letting his excitement steep slowly in order to build up to this day.

“Now you see, Dipper, by using this machine I have been able to replicate a fully operational specimen from the endangered species I had managed to capture, by simply taking some of the species DNA, and the other essential ingredients to make up a body, such as water, and essential nutrients, I was able to grow these little guys from an artificial womb with nutrient enhanced placenta.” Ford ran him through the process, showing him a habitat that the ‘cloned’ species resided in. Dipper stood awestruck the whole time, nodding his head at parts, during the end, he grinned at his great uncle and opened his mouth to congratulate him.

Gszg’h rg.

Dipper startled and whipped his head around, jumping ever so slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Ford frowned in a worried manner.

“Nothing, I thought I heard something, must have been Mabel from upstairs.” Dipper brushed it off, if he was honest, the voice scared the hell out of him.

“Alright then, but what do you think?” Ford directed their attention back to the machine. Dipper grinned again and pushed the voice to the back of his head for now.

“It’s so awesome Great-uncle Ford!” He exclaimed excitedly, opening up about his thoughts and ideas. Ford Listened along happily, taking in some of the ideas that Dipper had for advancement. Dipper paused when a sudden thought struck him, he didn’t understand where it had come from, and part of him felt ridiculous for even thinking about it. But, curiosity killed the cat, they say.

“Great-uncle Ford?” He started hesitantly.

“Yes, Dipper?” He asked, his back was turned to Dipper, he was studying the clones and their reaction to different substances.

“With this technology, would you be able to create a human? Without DNA?” He kept his eyes on the machine, for some reason, asking this question made him feel nervous. Ford paused his research and turned to look at the machine, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Dipper, I’m sure I don’t have to warn you about the potential danger that most if not all of my inventions could cause, this one is certainly a dangerous one.” Dipper cast his gaze to the ground and Ford paused, seeming to mull it over again. “But, to answer your question, I suppose, to some degree, that creating a human would be scientifically feasible, however, the results wouldn’t be something entirely human, through this process I am unsure if the replicated human would have a conscience, nor a soul.” Dipper let that sink into his bones like ice water, a chill pricked at the back of his neck and his hairs stood on end.

Kviuvxg.

The voice lingered int he back of Dipper’s mind the entire day, he couldn’t tell what it was saying, nor whose voice it was. Something about the tone and depth of the voice struck Dipper with a familiarity he couldn’t place. As most things did, it began to nag at his anxiety, causing small panic in his heart, was he just going insane? Dipper feared that this may be true. But, he did feel as if the voice was meant to happen, it was internal, but it was being cast from somewhere beyond his mind. And with this analysis, Dipper suspected that the one speaking to him was none other than the embodiment of terror himself, Bill Cipher. But why was he talking to him from inside his head? Was he allowed to do that? How did he do it? And what language was he speaking?

All these thoughts circled in Dipper’s head as he tucked himself into bed that night, arms laced behind his head as he stared at the water-stained ceiling, it seemed that no matter how many times the shack had to be repaired, the water-spots always came back with a vengeance as if it was demanding for the attention of some unwitting guy who had trouble sleeping at night. The irony behind this analysis was that Dipper found himself in that same predicament as we speak. He was nervous to fall asleep, maybe a little scared, if Bill was trying to talk to him in broad daylight while Dipper was awake, what would he have to say in Dipper’s dreams? What would he do? At the same time as DIpper was nervous, he was also curious, the questions floating through his head in a never-ending loop as he stared at the dark brown rings of his ceiling. And slowly, Dipper drifted off.

“Well look who it is! My favorite Pinetree!” Mocked the demon who leaned right above Dipper’s face. Dipper flinched and his eyes shot open, he didn’t know how to feel about Bill’s face being so close, Dipper took in BIll’s features, his face was typically angular, with sharp cheekbones and a jawline that could cut diamonds; Dipper felt his face wasn’t human, which, in a sense, was true. What he meant, however, was that Bill looked like he had been made by someone who did not know how to create an unattractive human, his blonde locks were nearly long enough to brush Dipper’s cheeks.

“Yoo-hoo! Right here, kid!” he shouted and waved his hand above his face. Dipper flinched again and pushed his hand away, sitting up and scooting away from the demon against the wall.

“What do you want Bill!” The teen demanded, a nasty glare shot at the demon, who simply chuckled at Dipper’s attempts at being dominant and intimidating.

“Awe kid, you crack me up.” he stated, before leaning back to hover in the air casually. Dipper was about to snap at him for messing around again when he remembered some of the questions he had before falling asleep.

“You were talking to me early, weren’t you?” Dipper asked, eyeing the demon suspiciously. Bill grinned and corrected his posture to be facing Dipper while standing.

“Very good Pinetree! Yes, I was.” He hummed and picked up a piece of paper from Dipper’s desk. Some of his summer homework.

“Why?” Dipper scooted closer to the edge of the bed to watch Bill more closely.

“I’m afraid I cannot give you that information, I can say, however, that it was because I wanted to talk to you.” Dipper’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Wait, but, you just told me why?”

“Why what?” Bill looked at him, his bright honey-yellow eye was unnervingly intense.

“Why you tried talking to me earlier?” Dipper began to get a little impatient with the cryptic way that Bill spoke.

“Because I wanted to talk to you.” He answered nonchalantly as he messed around with more of Dipper’s stuff.

“No- I- Ugh!” Dipper groaned and flopped back on the bed, covering his eyes. He then jumped when realizing he may have laid on his sleeping body, but glanced to see and realized that his body was not there.

“Bill? Where’s my body?” He looked at the other man suspiciously.

“Oh! I have enough energy to pull you into an actual dream to talk to you, rather than catching you between dreamland and the mindscape like the other night.”

“Wait, so we aren’t in the mindscape right now?” Dipper looked around the space, standing from the bed slowly.

“Nope! This is a real-life dream!” He replied, sending a stack of papers in his hand up in flame. DIpper’s eyes grew wide and he gasped, rushing over.

“My homework!” he exclaimed and pulled the pages from Bill’s hand, dropping them on the floor and stamping the fire out best he could, before he paused, and realized that the papers were just fine and even though they’d been lit on fire, they were not harmed. Dipper looked up at Bill inquisitively.

“It’s a dream, kid, I literal just said that like two times.” He rolled his eye and DIpper grumbled, kicking the stack of papers at the demon, who watched as every paper through the power of nature curved around his being and landed near his feet, not a single one touching him.

“Bill, how did you talk to me while I was awake?”

“You can see Ursa Major right outside your window, pretty ironic I think.” he chuckled to himself, taking the telescope that was nestled beside the desk in front of the window and extending it to see out the window. Dipper sighed but decided to humor the man, he got up to Bill’s beckoning hand motion and skeptically walked over to the window, standing beside him. When Dipper leaned down to look into the telescope, his entire viewpoint changed, and he was no longer looking through a telescope but standing atop a hill in a clearing he was unfamiliar with. The sky was bright with dazzling stars, it was as if no light pollution ever graced this part of the earth, whichever way you turned it didn’t matter, the sky was crystal clear and so large it made Dipper feel like a grain of sand among a dessert. When Dipper turned, Bill stood next o him, his gaze cast upwards to the sky.

“I don’t know how you do it kid, feeling accomplished with that measly telescope pointed out through the dirty glass.” Bill shook his head, laying himself back on the ground to stare up to the sky. Dipper found this situation kind of strange, e never thought he would see Bill look so, undefensive, his guard was down, and although that should have put Dipper more on edge, it soothed some of his nerves, if an all mighty being of energy could feel relaxed, then what did he have to be afraid of? Dipper shifted down to sit a couple of feet away from Bill in the grass, holding his knees to his chest as his head tilted upward to the sky, in reality, his neck would be sore, cramped and the experience would be less enjoyable, but this wasn’t reality, so DIpper could stare as long as he wanted without getting tired.

“It’s beautiful.” the teen whispered to himself, he internally cataloged a few constellations that he saw. He could feel a breeze brush over his clothes and fill his ears with beautiful white noise.

“Goodnight, Pinetree.” Bill had said to Dipper as his form softly flickered in and out of sight.

Slowly, Dipper’s eyes opened, and he was met with not only water stains but the confusion that swallowed his whole thought processing system, he still had questions, some that he had before entering the dream, and others that had popped up during the dream.

Why had Bill acted so weird the last few times he had visited Dipper, he showed compassion, though still plenty of cryptic messages that hid among his words. He was still frustrating enough to make Dipper want to pull out his curly brown hair.

Why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I'm finally managing a schedule with this! The next few weeks might not end up with an update due to winter break, I'll be out of town.


End file.
